Telecoms business to consolidate its office space within newly refurbished, all-electric 3 Sheldon Square British Land has signed an agreement to lease 83,000 sq ft of space over seven floors to Virgin Media O2 at 3 Sheldon Square, a newly refurbished office building at Paddington Central, which will act as the telecoms company’s new headquarters. The deal takes the building to 60% let, ahead of its opening in February 2024. 3 Sheldon Square is currently undergoing a full refurbishment, significantly reducing the embodied carbon in the development through retention and reuse of the existing structure and materials. The building will be all electric, including the installation of air source heat pumps, which will reduce operational energy demand by over 40%, well ahead of British Land’s 2030 target to improve building energy intensity by 25%. In addition, new terraces, improving the façade and amenity of the building, will be installed overlooking Sheldon Square. The refurbishment will deliver a BREEAM Excellent certification and is targeting an EPC rating of A. An extensive upgrade to the public realm at Paddington Central is also underway to enhance the landscaping across the site, while works are ongoing to comprehensively update the amphitheatre, revitalising the central part of the campus for all visitors to enjoy. Darren Richards, Head of Real Estate at British Land, said: “As businesses re-evaluate their workspace requirements in the wake of the pandemic, demand is clearly moving towards high quality, sustainable space in central locations with excellent amenities. Virgin Media O2’s decision to consolidate its team at the newly refurbished 3 Sheldon Square reflects this trend, and underlines the appeal of Paddington Central and our London campuses to innovative businesses.” David Walker, Chief Operating Officer at British Land, said: “This is a fantastic example of our sustainability strategy in action, limiting embodied carbon through retaining the original building while delivering best in class space and improving energy efficiency. This fully refurbished scheme is well ahead of our 2030 target of a 25% improvement in whole building energy efficiency and lowers operational costs for our customers.” Rodney Hogg, Director of Property, Facilities, Fleet and Energy at Virgin Media O2 commented: “By investing in a brand new, connected and state-of-the-art office space, we’re creating even better opportunities for our people to come together, work and collaborate. This purpose-built space, just a short train ride from our other major site in Reading, offers brilliant connectivity and impressive sustainability credentials helping us deliver for both our people and the planet.” 3 Sheldon Square is a 140,000 sq ft office building located at Paddington Central, an 11 acre London campus. Situated next to Paddington Station and the Grand Union Canal, the campus benefits from a central London location, proximity to excellent transport links including the London Underground, mainline rail, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth Line, as well as exciting cafes, restaurants and bars. Virgin Media O2 has a major office in Green Park, Reading, just a short train ride from the new location in Paddington, meaning staff will be able to move quickly and easily between the two core sites when Sheldon Square opens. British Land owns Paddington Central in a Joint Venture with GIC. Prior to this partnership, British Land invested £100 million into transforming the campus including upgrading the public realm, developing an additional office building and boosting the retail and leisure offering. It is home to leading global businesses across technology, telecoms and pharmaceutical industries including Microsoft, Visa and Prudential, as well as restaurant and operators Vagabond Wines, Pergola Paddington, Wagamama and London Shell Co. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals 

Fast-growing flexible office space provider, Canvas Offices, has unveiled plans to transform 321 Oxford Street into a creative and inspiring work environment, after agreeing a long-term 25-year lease for the building. Soon to be the 13th in the Canvas Offices portfolio, 321 Oxford Street stretches across five floors, and – until now – has been utilised as a retail unit with accompanying storage space. The building boasts an extensive history, having been the trading address of oil and colourman artist, John Sherbor, between 1820-1848 – aptly affirming its creative roots. Committed to providing authentic and modern work environments in sought-after locations across the Capital, the Canvas team will now embark on an extensive refurbishment programme for 321 Oxford Street, culminating in creative and inspiring spaces that provide businesses with true value for money and effectively blur the lines between home and work. This latest development follows a series of positive announcements for the Canvas brand, having secured £2.5 million in debt investment in October 2022 to utilise towards tripling the size of the business, followed by the completion of its 12th building in St John’s Lane, Farringdon. Discussing the new lease for 321 Oxford Street, Yaron Rosenblum, co-founder and CEO of Canvas Offices, said: “Since launching Canvas in 2018, we have successfully developed a model that benefits Landlords and businesses alike in sourcing vacant or underperforming buildings across the Capital and transforming them into really engaging work environments, which have been carefully designed to enable businesses to grow and thrive. We are incredibly excited to have secured the long-term lease for 321 Oxford Street and are now working hard to refurbish the building in a 5-6 month timeframe. As part of this process, we always invite potential clients to visit the building and discuss their needs, so the space is right for them and their business, making it their own bespoke office they can call home. Since finalising our debt investment in October 2022, the Canvas team have taken great strides in delivering our growth strategy, with 10 additional buildings forecast to open within the next 18-months, including 321 Oxford Street – watch this space.” Headquartered in Shoreditch with buildings in Mayfair, Clerkenwell, Farringdon and Old Street, Canvas boasts an average 98.4% occupancy rate across its entire portfolio, with growing waiting lists and strong occupier demand. The strength of its demand is highlighted by the success of its 12th building in St John’s Lane, Farringdon, where Canvas had sent contracts out to complete 100% occupancy ahead of officially opening its doors. Underpinned by a growing team of industry experts, Canvas buildings are home to ever expanding businesses from start-ups to Global HQs, including influential brands like Rough Trade, Patchwork, Malin+Goetz, and Augustinus Bader. For more information about Canvas, visit: https://canvasoffices.co.uk Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals 

Property investment and development company CEG has appointed national construction company, McLaughlin & Harvey, to commence construction works for the landmark Glasgow office space development at 33 Cadogan Street (formerly known as The Grid). CEG has secured equity funding from its existing investors, primarily sourced from Swedish State Pension Funds AP1 and AP4, managing two of the buffer funds in the Swedish public pension system. AP1 and AP4 have a strong commitment to sustainability and have a long track record of investing in UK regional cities with CEG. With full planning permission in place for the c.300,000 sq. ft office development, and the site already cleared and enabled for construction, the development will complete in summer 2025. Paul Richardson, investment manager at CEG, said: “The start on site with this speculative development is testament to CEG’s confidence in the Glasgow market. The city is suffering from an acute lack of Grade A office supply and 33 Cadogan Street will help to remedy that. “A best-in-class office development, targeting the highest sustainability credentials, it will respond to occupier’s demands for Net Zero Carbon in operation office space, as well as providing fantastic amenities and a healthy and productive place to work.” Glasgow based architects, Cooper Cromar, has helped CEG enhance the sustainability credentials in the design of the new development. JLL and CBRE have been appointed as joint agents to market 33 Cadogan Street. Andy Cunningham, senior director CBRE, said: “The flight to quality has diminished the availability of top-quality office space in Glasgow and Covid-19 only accelerated this trend. With no new build development being delivered until 33 Cadogan Street completes in Summer 2025, we anticipate pent up demand from occupiers.” Alistair Reid, Director at JLL, added: “33 Cadogan Street has been designed with sustainability and occupier amenity at its heart, to further support the return of occupiers to the office in a post-pandemic world. Targeting Net Zero Carbon in operation, the building aims to align with occupiers’ corporate carbon reduction goals” CEG has a track record of delivering award-winning offices in Scotland. Following the development of Aurora on Bothwell Street in 2006, the company helped to kickstart the regeneration of the area with its 178,000 sq. ft new build. The successful speculative development was fully let within six months of completion. The company’s Onyx development in Glasgow was recently redeveloped to deliver a new café, an extensive range of facilities for cyclists and new flexible Let Ready studios, providing fully furnished grow-on space for smaller companies and project or satellite space for larger firms. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals